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PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Jesus, help me be patient through these first, uncomfortable weeks of school! Amen.

Some people brought a man to Jesus to be cured. The man was deaf and couldn't talk. Jesus put his fingers in the man's ears, then spat on them and touched the man's tongue, saying, "Open up!" Suddenly, the man could hear and talk! Everyone was amazed at Jesus. "He can do anything!" they said.

The first few weeks of school can be overwhelming: piles of books, long lists of what you have to learn, complicated schedules, new teachers, confusing directions. Even if you're a good student, you wonder if you'll make it through the school year!

It's a good thing you know that you always got through those first weeks of school in past years. In fact, in a few weeks you may catch yourself feeling like the king of the world - like you can do anything!

This week's Gospel (Mark 7:31-37) is like that. People wonder if Jesus can do anything at all to help the man they bring Him - a man who can't hear or speak. But Jesus cures the man right away.

It would be easy for Jesus, like a kid in school, to go from being overwhelmed by the man's needs to thinking, "I made him hear and talk! I can do anything!"

The truth is somewhere in the middle - for you in school, and for Jesus in the Gospel story. You aren't falling apart in those first weeks of school, and you aren't the king of the world later, when you've gotten used to things.

Jesus hadn't done everything, either. He cured the man's body, but it was still up to the man how to live the rest of his life. He could have been happy and had faith in God; he could have gotten angry that he'd ever had problems.

School will get more comfortable as time goes on - but no one is king of the world. Even Jesus lets us decide for ourselves how to live![[In-content Ad]]

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